Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/387

Rh ÆPYTUS.

Never to part again.

MEROPE.

O kind Messenian maidens, O my friends,

Bear witness, see, mark well, on what a head

My first stroke of revenge had nearly fallen!

THE CHORUS.

We see, dear mistress: and we say, the Gods,

As hitherto they kept him, keep him now.

MEROPE.

O my son!

I have, I have thee...the years

Fly back, my child! and thou seem'st

Ne'er to have gone from these eyes,

Never been torn from this breast.

ÆPYTUS.

Mother, my heart runs over; but the time

Presses me, chides me, will not let me weep.

MEROPE.

Fearest thou now?

ÆPYTUS.

I fear not, but I think on my design.